Vale – RG Armstrong
RG Armstrong – 1917-2012
American character actor and playwright, RG Armstrong, has passed away. Mr Armstrong first came to Hollywood’s attention when he began appearing in a number of television series, including The Californians, The Riflemen, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Rawhide and Maverick, among others. While working on the show The Westerner, Armstrong met and befriended then-up and coming director Sam Peckinpah, who would cast Armstrong as the slightly-nutty-fundamentalist Christian in many of his films – the first being Ride The High Country, before he would again appear in Pat Garret & Billy The Kid, becoming an archetypal character in Western films in the process. Armstrong also appeared in Penckinpah’s The Ballad Of Cable Hogue.
Outside of his work with Peckinpah, Mr Armstrong appeared in numerous films such as El Dorado, Race With The Devil, Children of The Corn (1984), Predator (as the General who sends Arnie and his men off on their mission), Heaven Can Wait, Reds and Dick Tracy (as Pruneface).
RG Armstrong passed away on July 27th, at his Studio City, California home. He was 95.
Editor In Chief of www.fernbyfilms.com, Rodney has been watching films since he was at least old enough to remember having nightmares after watching King Kong one New Years Eve…. Rodney is married with 2 kids, a substantial DVD and BluRay collection, and lives happily with his wife Lisa in a sleepy suburb of inner-city Adelaide, South Australia.
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As soon as I saw the pic I thought the guy who gives the orders in Predator! Didn't recognise the name but know the face and the work.
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Dan — August 5, 2012 @ 7:07 pm
To be honest, I didn't realize this guy had been in so many films until I'd read his bio from IMDb…. I'm going to have to look at some of those Peckinpah films especially!
Rodney — August 5, 2012 @ 10:01 pm